Converse in the North Cascades: Summer Trips 2018 Vol I, June, July

I was very busy in 2018. Along with all of the regular activities like getting hay in and moving cows and dealing with routine and emergency maintenance around the house and farm, I worked ten and a half hour days for much of the year. I still managed to get a little family time in and a good number of trips into the mountains in pursuit of my project. This and the following posts refer to my summer trips. There were a lot of other events in my life that I didn't have time or energy to record. What follows are largely unedited notes that I wrote up at the end of each trip, usually later in the evening after the kids were in bed. I didn't take much time for punctuation or to break anything into paragraphs, creating what Sacha, my wife refers to as a wall of words. At this point in my life I simply don't have the time to make a neater presentation. My apologies and respects to anyone who takes on the project of reading this, and the following posts.

Break In Trip June 17th

Father’s Day. Spent first part of morning with family. Walked dog. Went up Suiattle River Road to check it out and see if there was still a log across the river. Bigger flood last fall and I figured it probably moved a lot of things around in the river and probably washed out a lot of logs. Got to parking lot and headed toward spot where there were two logs across river last year. This spot was right at the end of the road and pretty handy. Knew about another log across further up but if logs at end of road were gone, that one would probably be gone too because it was partly in water when river was at low flows. When I got down to the river, I immediately saw both logs from last year were gone along with part of the large logjam that had been there. There was one little log across with one end on remnant of logjam but it looked pretty sketchy and it would be a very bad place to go into the river, water fast and deep and might get sucked under jam. Would have to think about it a bit before trying that log. Things didn’t look good. Then looked downstream. Less than a hundred yards away was a nice big cedar freshly fallen in from the bank across the river. Looked better than the log from last year. Things were looking up. Made it across okay. Goal was to get to flagged route that led up to the Milk Creek Trail from river. I had spotted it along the trail last year. Original plan was to follow that route back to the river and try to find crossing. This would be a good short cut as I would be able to travel on a maintained trail for several miles before having to deal with cross country and unmaintained trail. I was pretty sure I knew the log where they crossed. It was probably the other log mentioned previously. It was a good crossing but the river brushed the bottom of it at low flows so I was pretty sure that it washed out in the flood the previous fall. Of course I couldn’t be sure without going down and looking but I didn’t think it would be worth the effort. Looked like way trail was already seeing some use for the year. Was able to follow way trail part of it pretty well-only lost it once. Saw USFS flag with writing indicating a bridge location. Maybe they were planning on putting another bridge over the river. Made it to flagged route from river and had lunch there and took a short nap. No really bad changes to trail from previous year. Few new logs down but most weren’t major obstacles. Legs felt a little rubbery but not too bad. One troubling thing. Usually if I have any mystery aches and pains it is my right leg or hip. This time there was a sharp pain in my left leg. This pain had developed earlier that spring when I spen hours in a squatting deep knee bend position while pulling the turbine guide bearing and oil pot on a generator as part of an overhaul. Pain had kind of gone away over the intervening months but came roaring back on this trip. Didn’t hurt when I put weight on it like a lot of aches and pains. Hurt when I bent it to take a step forward or to step over something. Worrisome and a little painful but leg and knee seemed to be working okay otherwise. Brushed out a few spots on the way back with my hand saw. Managed to get a blood blister on a thumb when small, dry hemlock limb snapped back. Brushed a little more on crossing log. Pretty much uneventful break-in trip.

Break In Trip 2, June 23rd

Took off in middle of week on the 20th to put up about 250 bales (about six tons) of hay. Saturday decided to go up Downey Creek trail to Bachelor Creek, 6.6. miles according to Green Trails Map, a total of 13.2 miles round trip. Weather was good, cooler with mixed sunshine. Trail was in very good shape. Someone had gone up it not long before me and cut out most of the logs and brushed the trail in many spots. Trip largely uneventful. Saw one cascades frog. Legs rubbery and I was pretty tired by time I got back to trailhead. Left leg still hurting but also still working. Wasn’t too stiff and sore next several days like I was after my trip to Bachelor Creek the year before.

Break In Trip 3, July 1st

Had planned to walk into Split Rock at head of East Fork of Nookachamps Creek in Cultus Mountains. But this would be a long trip, probably most, if not all day and I had to water cows and give dog her last dose of antibiotics for a nasty sore on her back. Decided to do a little bit shorter trip. Hadn’t walked east bank of Baker Lake all the way so decided to walk that trail. Didn’t figure on going all the way through but wanted to at least as far if not farther than previous weekend to help maintain muscle tone and see some new ground in the bargain. Took my overnight pack without tent, sleeping bag, cooking gear and a lot of food. Found that there were a lot more ups and downs in trail than I remembered. Plantar tendon/muscle on my left foot felt tight, not like plantar fasciitis, but more like something was getting ready to snap. Seemed like it was tight and felt like it popped occasionally. Seemed to work though so kept going. Made good time 2 ½ to 3 miles an hour I figured. Got to spot roughly opposite Baker Lake Resort/Swift Creek, a little short of Ermine Creek on the East Bank and called it good. Figured this to be about seven miles or maybe a little more, 14 miles round trip. Stopped and had lunch and took short nap. Pain in right hip and knee flared up, seemed like it was out of nowhere. Trip back uneventful. Lots of little aches and pains, right hip and knee and left plantar. Got doors blown in by a trail runner and a couple both of whom passed me going in and coming out. Much more sore the next several days than I expected to be. Thought that trail was a pretty easy one, it definitely wasn’t hard, but maybe it was a little harder than I figured.

Split Rock and East Fork Nookachamps, July 7th and 8th

Figured the trip to Split Rock would be sixteen or seventeen miles round trip. Good for a final break in to get ready for the year. Walked in from Lake Cavanaugh Road/Pilchuck Creek. Could have ridden in from Walker Valley ORV but needed to get in shape. Used cushioned insoles I got from a friend to help save the bottoms of my feet a bit. Usually not too bad on a trail but hard on bottoms of feet on gravel road over long distances. Saw a couple of construction guys getting culverts at a pit near bottom of road. We talked for a bit and I told them what I was doing and where I was going. The one guy asked if I was packing because they had seen a really big cougar about a mile up the road earlier in the year. All I had was my knife and figured to take my chances. Day was cool. Forecast called for chance of showers. Weather was overcast with occasional sun breaks-good weather for a walk. Overall felt pretty good. Left plantar still felt funny. About half way up clouds got really black and then I saw the rain come. It was a kind of heavy mist. Didn’t soak immediately and as long as I was walking in the brush free road, I would have gotten just as wet from the sweat inside raingear as I was from the rain itself. Decided to put off wearing raingear-sometimes a mistake. Rain waxed and waned in intensity and the top of my pack and shoulders were finally starting to get wet. Reached what looked like a big, fairly flat area. Thought I might be close. Got off road into a thick patch of about 30 year old second growth to look at map. While in the trees, dug out my raingear and pack cover and put them on. Thought I was pretty close. Continued on. Rained off and on for next half hour. Had planned to eat lunch at Split Rock and thought pace I was walking would put me there sometime after noon. After 1:00 p.m. decided to eat. Found good spot off road and ate lunch. Got a little chilled so continued on shortly after eating and was at Split Rock in about 15 minutes. Sky started to break up as I was getting ready to explore wetland around Split Rock. Saw Cascades frog right as I got there. Captured to get a close look and verify species. Good thing I caught that one. Saw several more but couldn’t catch any. Split Rock pretty impressive. Large rock would guess at least 100 feet high split in 3 main pieces occupying area probably quarter square mile.

Hit what thought was other wetland. But wrong, though ended up going through pretty cool i.e. interesting, passageway through broken rock. Sky pretty clear at this point. Shed rain gear and headed out. Trip out relatively uneventful. Pace about 2.5 mph. Made it back to rig at about 6:00 p.m. Everything held up okay. Raw spot rubbed on fourth toe of left foot. From combination of insoles leaving less room in shoes and wet socks walking downhill put pressure on that spot and rubbed it raw. Hot spot in same area on right foot but didn’t get raw. Left plantar still felt a little weird.

Split Rock, looking northeast from road. The distinctive splits that gives this humongous rock its name isn't very visible from this angle.

Split Rock, looking northeast from wetland as the weather is beginning to break.

Split Rock, looking in a more northerly direction from wetland. The distinctive splits are more visible here.

Split Rock, looking northwest from wetland.

Northwestern salamander (Ambystoma gracile) egg mass and water strider in wetland.

Split Rock, looking north at three main splits.

Tadpoles, probably Cascades frog (Rana cascade).

Western toad (Bufo boreas).

Split Rock, looking southeast.

Passageway between boulders on west side of Split Rock.

Split Rock, looking southeast.

Wetland on northwest side of split rock. I thought that this was the mapped wetland and it might be connected to the mapped wetland but the wetland showing on the map is a little farther north and to the west of this spot.

East Fork Nookachamps, July 8th

Next day 4 ponds/wetlands. First two actually below 2000 but decided to check out anyway. First one small flat with wet ground but no standing water. Very brushy. Got stung across face by stinging nettles. Second one standing water, also very brushy and hard to get around. Toe of right shoe had been failing and finally blew out creating a kind of alligator mouth that collected sticks and dirt as I walked. Discovered trail and several remnant old-growth cedars and an old growth D. fir on way to upper ponds. Took out insoles prior to trip and occasionally felt raw spot on left foot but no chronic pressure on it and wasn’t too painful.

First wetland I visited that day. Its elevation is given on the USGS Quad as1429 feet. There was no standing water here. There was a flat with a lot of wet soil and a creek running through it.

Same as above, 1429 wetland.

Second wetland visited that day. Its elevation is given on the USGS Quad as 1391 feet.

1391 wetland.

1391 wetland and heavy brush that surrounded much of it. There seemed to be a lot of birds in this area. I failed to get any good photos. I wanted to get them to try to identify which species of bird they were. My knowledge of birds is pretty anemic. I was thinking that many might be marsh wrens but I couldn't be sure. I failed to get good enough photos to try to identify them later.

1391 wetland.

1391 wetland. The dead snag int he foreground and several others indicate that the water level might have been lower at one time.

Third wetland visited that day. Elevation for this wetland given on USGS Quad as 2129 feet. If one goes by one cutoff elevation that I have heard, 2000 feet or above, this qualifies as a high lake or wetland.

Water hemlock (Cicuta doulasii) at the 2129 wetland. This is an extremely poisonous member of the carrot family (Apiaceae). I have been misidentifying it for years as Pacific water parsley (Oenanthe sarmentosa). Fortunately, I didn't try to eat any, as I understand Pacific water parsley, while not as poisonous as water hemlock is still suspect for being poisonous.

Western toad on log at 2129 wetland.

2129 wetland.

Small mapped pond slightly southeast of the 2129 wetland. I had a hard time finding this little pond due to the thick brush.

Vignette: Up until past 11:00 p.m. previous night getting field notes taken day before corrected and arranged and researching a few species. Didn’t fall right to sleep-too hot. Didn’t sleep really well until sometime in the morning when house finally cooled down. Up at 4:30 a.m., working ten hour schedule that day. Hang laundry on line before heading to work. Operate in a mental haze at work. Physically tired from exertion on weekend putting up hay and hiking for 8 hours in 90 degree or so heat and mentally tired from lack of sleep. Spent most of breaks at work napping. After work did chores-watered cows and got short nap until cows started pushing each other around nearby. Woke up-worried about getting stomped. Took Skyeball for short walk to cool off in creek. Ran weedeater for half hour to forty-five minutes to keep place where we want to build looking like it wasn’t abandoned-paranoid about losing well water rights like we almost did last spring because county considered place abandoned, even though people had been living there for at least 80 years. Got home to Sacha and the kids. Got to see kids for half an hour to forty-five minutes before kids had to go to bed. Ate dinner. Cleaned up dinner dishes-deal is that Sacha cooks and I clean up afterward. Take laundry off line and fold. Short nap. Actually it was in kids room, Vashti having bad dreams about scene in a movie we had seen weekend before-it was a kid’s movie, who knew it would scare her? Get up. Take shower. Put another load of laundry in washing machine. Work on field notes until after 11:00 p.m. Repeat. Summer routine.

East Fork Nookachamps, July 15th

Put in hay most of day on 14th. Wanted to get into one more set of ponds/wetlands on East Fork because had route figured out. Little cross-country from road, pick up trail, through new logging unit that had a lot of slash but not a lot of brush and thick vegetation and Himalaya blackberries that make travel more difficult. Taped right shoe up to do hay and figured it would stand last trip. Lots of weeds in area trying to minimize spread so didn’t want to use newer shoes I would be taking farther into backcountry later in year. Figured wrong on shoes. Only hayed for about 5 hours previous day which was nice, sometimes have to work 8 to ten hours or more. But still felt tiredness on this trip. Along with heat really sapped my strength. Had to wring out bandanna that I was using for a sweatband twice on way up hill.

Lower (northwesternmost) pond in series whose elevation is given as 2634 feet on USGS Quad.

Damselfly at lower 2634 pond, probably a bluet of some kind. My knowledge of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) is pretty anemic as well. I do, however, know the difference between dragonflies and damselflies.

More damselflies, again, probably bluets at lower 2634 pond.

Northwestern salamander egg mass at lower 2634 pond.

Looking northwest down lower 2634 pond.

Looking roughly east at upper 2634 pond.

Eight spotted skimmer (dragonfly) at upper 2634 pond.

Looking south at upper 2634 pond.

Gamma Hot Springs, July 20th thru 22nd

Friend asked me if hot springs really qualified for my project. In my book hot springs kind of an in between category and didn’t necessarily qualify as a high lake or pond. For many years I had actually ignored Gamma Hot Springs. That being said, I also thought it would be a good break in for my first overnight trip. First overnighter previous year was a failed attempt to get into these hot springs. Ran into person on Gamma Ridge Trail on way out told me that going up to ridge and dropping down into hot springs was best way to go. Creek was bad. I had tried the creek and agreed. Trip got off to less than auspicious start. About forty-five minutes up trail realized that I had forgotten to hang my Forest Pass in my windshield. Debated going back for several minutes then decided I had enough time and already paid for pass would be my luck to get a ticket on top of that. Dropped pack and went back and took care of it. Once forgot to lock rig and didn’t remember until I was all the way up Sulphur Mountain or somewhere similar at which point, I just had to trust that it wouldn’t get prowled, a common problem at trailheads. That definitely more serious than forgetting stupid pass. Headed back up trail after detour. Right leg and hip felt pretty good. Left knee hurt every time I bent it, i.e. with every step and even more if I had to bend it deeply. Thought that might have been from some things that I had done during previous work week and possible something that I had done earlier in year. While condition painful and irritating, didn’t seem like something that would physically stop me, i.e. I would be able to use my knee, it would just hurt every time I did. Left plantar also still felt funny and, in addition to that waist belt of pack started rubbing hips raw, left hip especially. No help for it. Continued on. Weather was good. Clear but cool, probably low 70’s Fahrenheit. Plan was to get to Gamma Creek and camp at trail crossing. Originally started from trailhead at a little before 11:00 a.m. New start after going back to hang parking pass was a little after 12:00 p.m. Figured to get to Gamma Creek somewhere between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. Initially a little dismayed when I got to Vista Creek. Had had to ford it in the previous several years and winter floods had steepened and deepened the creek at the ford of the previous years. Would have to find another ford. Then saw creek now running under a nice cedar walk log and I would be able to cross without getting feet wet. Nice. Got to Gamma Creek at about 5:30 p.m. Pretty tired. Had carried a full pack something like 12 miles or more. Didn’t know exact mileage. Had old Green Trails map that didn’t show the rerouted PCT and mileage. But I think distance was at least 12 miles, if not more. Set up camp. Forgot tent last year, remembered this year. Then I went to cook dinner and realized that I didn’t have the top to my cook stove. We had used it several times the previous winter when the power was out and, apparently, it hadn’t made it back into my pack. Not the end of the world. I had backpacked for years without a cook stove. I finally started using them because certain areas I went to frowned on or prohibited camp fires. Then I got hooked on the convenience of them. They started quickly, you can control the heat better and you can use them when burn bans are on. There was a burn ban on now but I had a large beach of sand and gravel that basically created a ten foot wide fire ring. If I kept the fire small it wasn’t going anywhere. So I built a fire to heat water. Luckily I had several things to eat that only required boiling water. That would be much easier than stirring something over the flames, which can also be done, except I was a little out of practice. Took a little longer to cook dinner but not much. Made sure fire was well doused after dinner then turned in. Varied thrushes calling woke me up next morning about 5:00 a.m. Always hard for me to get started in mornings and this morning dozed around until 6:00 a.m. Finally forced myself out of sleeping bag. Had a long day ahead. According to map six or seven miles of trail, over 3000 feet elevation climb, then drop down a thousand feet or more then back up. Trail I had heard had lots of windfalls too which would make the going harder. Fortunately for me, someone had recently brushed large sections of trail and bucked some of the more difficult logs. Still lots of logs to go over but not as bad as it could have been. Stopped near bottom of ridge where trail started to go up steeply with a lot of small switchbacks. Put moleskin on my left hip where a large raw spot was developing. Hot spot on my right hip and my left groin from buckle of pack but decided to ignore them for the time being. Set my mind to the slog of numerous switchbacks and a steep trail. Song on repeat in my head was Carolina Liar “Show Me What I’m Looking For” which had been going through my head continuously the day before as well. Temperature was good this day as well about the same as day before, low 70’s. Definitely got up a good sweat but wasn’t dripping like I had been the weekend before. Large patch of windthrown timber where ridge leveled off a bit. Trail difficult to follow here. Few ribbons here and there helped. Blowdown patch half a mile or more above where last newly bucked logs were. Would have taken someone a week to cut through the blowdowns. Trail more obvious when ridge began to steepen a bit. Finally broke into meadows. Impressive erosional features. Steep, nearly vertical slopes eroded into volcanic deposits similar to gravel and sand. Got close to spot where I thought I would need to head off ridge into hot springs at about 11:30. Very hungry so had lunch and took short nap. After lunch decided to head a little farther up ridge to make sure I was in right spot. I wanted to head down on east side of a small north running ridge but there was enough timber around that I wasn’t absolutely sure that I was where I needed to be. Looked like a lot of vertical walled erosional draws on west side so wanted to avoid that. Some of those draws probably several hundred feet deep and formed barriers to travel. Could see Gamma Peak and ridge between me and it but just wanted to be sure. Walked up to about 6300 feet and satisfied myself that the spot where I planned to drop off the ridge was the right one. Saw lots of goat wool on vegetation and then saw goat. It saw me at the same time and skedaddled down off the ridge in the direction of one of the draws I was trying to avoid. Headed back down and got on east side of north running ridge and started down. Steep but doable. Legs were already fairly tired from trip up so coming out of this spot would be fun. Looked like I should be able to go several hundred feet down through the steep spot and when ground got a little more gradual, that would be about right to sidehill into hot springs. Took sightings on several cliffs to triangulate into hot springs. Looked like hot springs were just upstream of cliffs on ridge to north of one I was following so if I aimed for roughly their upstream end I should be within a stone’s throw. Had to navigate around some cliffs hiding in the timber. Cut east to more gradual ground and then back west. Got to spot where maps indicated the hot springs should be at about 2:30 p.m. Didn’t see any obvious hot springs. Lots of steep bare rock in area where three streams converged. Rock grayish volcanic and probably pretty easily erodible, leaving knife edge ridge several hundred feet high as well as some other barren rock formations. Lots of goat sign. Shed wool everywhere on brush, lots of beds and well beaten trails. Maybe there were minerals present or maybe the goats just liked the steep topography. Followed trail down a bit in an attempt to get to valley floor. Finally reached spot that was at edge of my comfort zone. Could have gotten down easily if I’d had a hundred feet of rope. Also could have gone down the hill a bit through thick brush to try to find a way down. I was running out of time. Still had to climb up a thousand feet or more and walk about 7 miles on trail. Hot springs not really focus of my project and, at any rate, didn’t look like there were any here. Didn’t want to risk my neck for it. Decided that I had gotten close enough to declare victory in this case. Maybe springs washed out. Woman last year had claimed to have been to them some 20 years earlier. Maybe they were just a little lower in valley. Quite possibly the “hot springs” were mineral seeps out of the rock which weren’t apparent or visible from where I was. Didn’t really have time to investigate further. Saw 4 goats on way out. Looked like a nanny and two yearlings from previous year and a kid from this year. Took a bunch of photos and continued out. Briefly debated following goat trail up west side of north running ridge I had followed in. Finally decided against it. Could have possibly been a shorter route out but also could have ended in one of those super steep gullies that only the goats could get through. Retraced route in on way out. Ran into a trail in that area that looked very likely to have been human made. Maybe this was trail to hot springs. Again, didn’t really have time to investigate where it went so followed trail out to ridgetop. Still ended up in maze of steep, but not impassible, gullies when I finally lost the trail. Got to ridgetop and retraced track down ridge. Stopped and took some photos. View from ridge pretty impressive. In a past life this view would have had me quite excited. This day felt kind of empty and uninspired. Just wanted to get back to camp. Took some photos so didn’t try too hard. Probably could have taken a lot better photos but I was pretty burned out on photos. Was a bit worried about losing trail on way out, especially in blowdown patch. Lost trail several times but was able to find it each time. Found better route through patch of heavy blowdown that I hadn’t seen on way up. Cruised back to camp. Had thoughts earlier of packing up camp and heading out trail a few miles to get jump on next day because I had some things I needed to take care of around house but got back to camp too late. On an encouraging note, left knee had all but stopped hurting. Wanted to get early start on Sunday and resolved to get myself moving earlier. Woke up at grey dawn before the varied thrushes started calling and lazed around until they did. Got up built small fire and cooked breakfast. Usually have oatmeal but decided to try something new and found out that I didn’t like it too much. I didn’t throw it away. It was all I had and it was edible, just not what I would bring again. Got started a little after 7:00 a.m. Figured to be out sometime between noon and 1:00 p.m. Re-adjusted pack straps but they continued to rub heavily on left hip making the raw spot even more aggravated. Finally loosened waist belt which brought immediate relief to hip but started hammering shoulders. Figured I could go a bit like this since I had used packs without waist belts for years. Finally had to retighten waist belt. Finally figured out that waist belt rubbed worse going uphill and shoulders hurt worse going downhill. So took to loosening waist belt on longer stretches of uphill and tightening it back up on long downhill stretches. Left knee started hurting again, evidently it was sensitive to weight of full pack. Generally stiff and tired with the various little discomforts already mentioned and some others as well. Typical for the end of a trip and the last walk to the trailhead. For some reason this time my mood was generally darker than it usually is at the end of a trip-even an unsuccessful trip which I didn’t consider this to be. Felt a general futility of project and let discomfort get to me more than usual. Kept a steady pace out with few stops and made it out at a little after noon. Spent rest of day after getting home weedeating place where we want to build house where we nearly lost water rights because County considered it abandoned. Wanted to make sure to keep it up so that wouldn’t happen again. Sacha and kids showed up. She had forgotten that I was going to water the cows that day after getting out so she did it. Talked to neighbor about dead bear in creek and some other things. Headed home and worked on cataloging pics from trip.

Looking south off Gamma Ridge at the Dusty Creek watershed. The exposed areas are nearly vertical and are in volcanic deposits, lahars or something similar off Glacier Peak.

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This area was eroding headward (uphill) and was about to hit the trail near the top of Gamma Ridge.

Looking northwest from Gamma ridge at the Spire Point area.

Looking southwest at Glacier Peak from Gamma Ridge on way in.

Looking north from Gamma Ridge at Spire Point, Dome Peak among others.

Looking northeast from Gamma Ridge. Miner's Ridge is in the foreground.

Looking northeast from Gamma Ridge at Suiattle Pass area.

Looking northeast from Gamma Ridge at upper Suiattle River.

Looking east from Gamma Ridge at Upper Suitable River and Buck Creek Pass area.

Looking north from Gamma Ridge. I took this photo moments before a mountain goat appeared.

I was able to snap this and the following shot before the goat disappeared into the trees. The goat is barely visible above the snow.

The goat's rear end is barely visible above the snow a split second before it disappeared.

Mountain Goats, a nanny and a kid above Gamma Hot Springs.

This and the following photo indicate how steep the knife edged ridge was that the goats were on.

Two more yearling goats showed up. I am guessing that they were twins the nanny had the previous year. It may have been one of these yearlings or the nanny that I saw higher up on Gamma Ridge.

This, and the following two photos are looking down at the area where the USGS Quad indicated that Gamma Hot Springs are. Most of the rock and soil in the area was made up of volcanic deposits. There may have been mineral seeps nearer to the creek but getting down to it was right on the edge of my comfort zone and I didn't see the point of risking injury or worse to try to get farther down, especially since hot springs weren't really part of my high lake project anyway unless there was an actual pond there and I didn't see any area flat enough to have a pool of any kind. Maybe some existed at one time but were wiped out by flooding or slides. The goats really seemed to like this area, there was a lot of sign there so I wouldn't be surprised if there were mineral springs present.

Looking north at Glacier Peak from Gamma Ridge on the way out.

This and the following photos are from Gamma Ridge looking across the Suiattle River from north to east. These are basically the same series of photos shown previously but they were taken on the way out and were meant to be stitched together into a panorama. This panorama is at the bottom of this section but I think the format is too small for it to display well.

East End Lime Ridge, July 27th thru 29^th

Trip was third attempt to get into lake at head of Lime Creek on Suiattle River. Don’t know if it is on what is considered Lime Ridge proper but, if it is, it is on east end below Fire Mountain. Lot of effort to get into this lake that was only provisionally mapped on latest version of USGS 7.5 minute Quad. Figured on doing it anyway and when I did, thought it would be easy. Trip didn’t start out well, forgot to get more molesking. Had been having problems with pack chafing weather was supposed to be hot which meant I would be sweating a lot which would cause clothes to get soaked with sweat which would increase chances of chafing. Also needed to get more stove fuel. So decided to get these things before starting out on Friday. Stores didn’t open until 9:00 a.m. which would mean I would be getting to trailhead later and probably miss any morning time coolness for that day. Ended up getting to trailhead at a little before 11:00 a.m. As I stepped out of pickup, right lens of my glasses fell out. Not a good start. Retrieved lens and, upon inspection, found the screw still there. Put lens back in and popped frame back together and turned screw in as best I could with fingernail. Frame design was good in that as long as I kept the frame tight, the lens probably wouldn’t fall out. No way to tighten screw any further so took some medical tape from pack and wrapped it around screw. This would serve two purposes, retain the screw and keep the frame together. For good measure wrapped screw on other side of frames with strip of tape left over. This proved functional but left weird white dots at the periphery of my vision. Could live with that. Started out. Initially thought it was pretty cool but this was deceptive. It wasn’t that cool and it was very humid. Body coated with fine layer of sweat before I got out of riverbed after crossing river on log, about ten minutes. Resolved that I would probably be in that state of steady sweating until it finally cooled off sometime that evening at which time I hoped to be at Mica Lake. Walked way trail to Milk Creek Trail without incident and continued up Milk Creek Trail. Lots of logs to crawl over or under. Proved to be much heavier work and temperature and humidity greater than I expected. After about an hour’s time the bandanna I was wearing was wringing with sweat. Wrung bandanna out several times. At first stop, inspected moleskin I had stuck to hot spot on my hip and found it to be worse than useless, it had bunched up and would more than likely rub a big sore in my hide, like a saddle blanket with a wrinkle in it. I tore it off and decided to go without. A first opening, about half a mile from the first crossing of Milk Creek, could look up valley and see ridge and part of Glacier Peak. Seemed to be haze in air. Later learned that there were two fires to the east, Chelan and Wenatchee but I think the mist I was looking at was actually water vapor. I remember thinking that it was muggy, like before a thunder storm but didn’t think there would be any relief like rain associated with thunder storms because weather forecast hadn’t called for any thunderstorms today, just hot and dry. Decided to eat lunch at crossing of Milk Creek just beyond brushy area. As I approached broken log bridge across Milk Creek, thought I felt something wet hit my hand. Then I felt another. Sure enough, it had started raining even though There seemed to be only a few solid clouds overhead. Everything else looked like blue sky through haze. The sunlight seemed to be cut a bit from its full intensity but it didn’t seem dark like a heavy overcast you usually see when it rains. Ate lunch and continued on. Rain sparse at first, a few big drops that seemed to dry almost instantaneously when they hit because everything was so warm. As I continued on, rain increased in intensity. Kind of refreshing in a way, wasn’t cold. But trail pretty brushy and soon was soaked through. The leaves of the brush capturing and concentrating the rain water so it was nearly like walking through a stream. Temperature in this situation where it was so warm, would probably get as wet from sweat in rain gear as from the rain itself. Holed up for a bit in drier spot under big hemlock but finally decided that the rain probably wouldn’t let up for a while and I needed to keep moving if I wanted to get to Mica Lake that day. Clothes that had been soaked through with sweat were now soaked through more with rain water, increasing the chance of chafing. Should have probably put on pack cover. Don’t know how much added weight the pack being wet added, but it seemed like a lot. Main shot of rain ended about time I crossed East Fork of Milk Creek. Brushy areas above mostly dry by the time I reached them. Still pretty warm. Fought way through brushy areas near top of trail. Someone had cut a lot of vine maples out of path but still a lot to go through. Starting to get tired. Harder to move in wet clothes, resist movement (basically same effect with raingear) and, along with all the brush that also resisted my movements, starting to wear out. Reached PCT about 5:00 or 5:30 p.m. Still had lots of time and daylight to make it to Mica Lake which is where I wanted to camp to jump off next day. Stopped a little short of PCT crossing of Milk Creek to rest for ten minutes or so. Tried to mentally prepare for trail ahead. Pretty long haul, lots of switchbacks. Set goal to take another good rest at flat about halfway up. Started on way again set mind to fact it would be a slog up. About a mile or two up had to stop. Hungry and I think blood sugar dropped because I felt pretty weak all of a sudden. Stopped and raided lunch bag for some trail mix and a candy bar. Felt better almost immediately. As I got ready to go again heard rumble of thunder above. Not a good development. Mica Lake fairly high and exposed. Paused for a couple of minutes. Heard a little more thunder then nothing. Finally decided to chance it. Weren’t supposed to be large, widespread thunderstorms according to weather forecast for the day (of course forecasts are often wrong) so decided to chance that this was a smaller, localized storm that would play itself out before too long. There were a few more rumbles of thunder then nothing. Took break at flat about halfway up to Mica Lake. Had a few large, random raindrops fall then nothing. Clothes starting to dry out a bit. Waist and crotch of pants still wet, usually last to dry out. Heard one or two rumbles of thunder on last bit of trail to Mica Lake. Stopped at flat about 500 feet below Mica Lake to see if there would be any more weather developments. No more thunder and it looked like storm I had heard earlier was breaking up. Really tired at this point, legs felt like rubber. Guy at flat said that there were plenty of camping spots but I finally decided to push on. Last 500 feet seemed to take forever. All of lower camping spots were taken at Mica Lake. Would have preferred lower spot but took one just a little higher. Tried to get as far as possible from any trees that might be lightning rods. Big snag on hill above me. Several hundred feet from tent and gully running perpendicular between me and it. Had heard that gullies and rock clefts can collect funnel lightning so figured (hoped) gully would catch any lightning that might hit the snag before it got to me. Cooked dinner and finished washing up just about dark. Actually got chilled washing dinner dishes. Mica Lake still mostly under snow and water was ice cold. Clothes mostly dry but some parts still damp, either from rainwater or sweat. Had a brief chat with guy camped nearby. He was going ultralight over weekend and had left rainfly behind (I had noticed his tent didn’t have a rainfly and thought someone was being awful brave). He was hoping that the afternoon thunder storms were the end of it and things would break up. I had my rainfly up, I almost always do because weather can come up in the middle of the night and its easier putting a rainfly on when you are awake rather than when you are half awake in a driving rain. Turned in for the night. Large hump where I had pitched tent and thought that I wouldn’t be sleeping very well for the night but it turned out to fit my body quite well and I slept well. Rained several times during the night, sometimes heavily. Felt sorry for the guy without the rainfly for his tent. Wasn’t particularly cold, just wet. Everything quiet when I woke up in morning. Lounged for half an hour or so. Body a little stiff but not bad, not as bad as I had expected. Finally crawled out at a little after 6:00 a.m. Sky was gray and cloudy. Guy without fly for his tent was already gone. Didn’t like looks of sky. Light rain started while I was cooking breakfast and when I was washing dishes, it turned to a heavy rain. And then I heard thunder. Stowed everything and crawled back into tent. Pretty bummed. Might have to abandon attempt. Route from Mica Lake was pretty exposed and didn’t want to try it in the middle of electrical storms. Decided to wait for at least a couple of hours to see if weather would change. Fell back asleep and caught up on sleep. Heard rain come and go several times. Finally woke up feeling kind of warm. Crawled out of tent. About 10:00 a.m. and sun was shining. Lots of clouds around but looked like storm had broken up. Probably had enough time to make the trip. Had hoped to go into lake and get good start back out trail so would only have a few hours walking on Sunday when it was supposed to be really hot. Didn’t look like that was likely to happen, probably take all my time getting in and out of lake and have to come all the way out from Mica Lake on Sunday. Ran into guy from flat below from day before. They had done the same as me, waited for a while to see what the weather was going to do. With that I was off. Temperature fairly cool from recently wet ground and vegetation but very muggy and sun was hot. Was sweating profusely within half an hour. Still didn’t know if I was going to make it. Had been talking to guy from flat from night before and mentioned that Mica Lake was still mostly under snow. Would have to get down pretty steep slope on route I planned to take. Last September it had been loose rock at just about the limit of steepness that I could do. Remembered it was pretty hard getting back up that slope. Now I was sure it was covered with snow and I hadn’t brought ice axe or crampons. Might still be okay if snow was soft enough but I was a little worried that it would be treacherous and possibly a trap. If the snow was hard it would be foolhardy to try. Topped the ridge and went to the little pass I needed to go through. Sure enough, it was entirely covered with snow and it was steep. Tried it out and found out that, fortunately, the snow was soft and it was actually easier to get down than the loose rock the previous fall. Still concerned about getting back up but thought I would be able to figure out a way. As an added bonus, I didn’t need to go as far down as the previous fall. The snowbank was deep enough that I could step off it over a steep soil bank that I had to drop several hundred feet below to get around the previous fall. After that, everything was pretty straightforward, traveling across the meadows and rock slides. Except that it was a struggle to keep my footing with almost every step. Had to navigate several gullies and rock was mostly of a small size that it was a struggle to keep footing or a larger size that was unstable enough that there was a constant risk of kicking something loose and trapping a leg. Snowfields were a little better but my feet were constantly kicking out from under me and a fell numerous times. Came close several times but never did a face plant. Misjudged edge of snowfield while stepping off it onto some talus and the undercut snow collapsed. Unfortunately there was a rock just underneath that I slammed my left leg into just above the ankle. It was a kind of scraping blow that made my left foot feel like it was on fire. I’m pretty sure it was in the exact same spot that I hit a hard knot on a log in the brushy trail the day before with almost the same effect. I recovered and limped a few feet into the talus and found a stable spot to sit down for a while. Was a little dizzy and nauseous-kind of shocky-and I suddenly got thirsty. I waited a few minutes, I definitely didn’t want to try to be moving until my head felt better, and the main fire feeling in my foot went away. Everything seemed intact and my foot and lower leg were still functioning, albeit a little stiffly, so I continued on. I was aiming for a kind of low spot on the ridge. If I could get over the ridge at this spot, I would go from the Milk Creek side to the Lime Creek side and almost be at the lake. I had been studying it on Google Earth and some mapping programs. I needed to get past a distinct notch or saddle in the ridge. This notch was too steep but the low spot in the ridge was just beyond it. I spied what I thought was the notch and worked my way past it. I figured I was close. Then I saw another notch. This one looked passable but it threw me for a loop. I was expecting a flatter spot in the ridge but this was a pretty distinctive notch. Pondered this a bit. Pretty sure this was the spot I wanted to try to get over the ridge but I was beginning to doubt myself. Hemmed and hawed a bit and finally decided that I had read the map wrong and continued on a bit. I reasoned that I would still probably be able to get down to navigable ground. Found a flat spot on the ridge and figured that this was the spot. I was wrong. While the ridgetop was flat, the ground broke off pretty steeply. It was still doable so I headed down. I soon encountered a series of cliff bands and the only way I could find to get further down was to continue northwest on basically the same tangent as the ridge. This took me to a spot above Lime Lake where I finally found a way down. I figured that this might happen, but thought that I should be able to get up out of Lime Lake and onto the easier ground into my goal lake. I had tried and failed at this in 2016 but then in 2017 I looked at this area from the ridge on the on the south side of Lime Creek and figured that I had just given up too easily in 2016. In all fairness, I was on a pretty tight schedule in 2016 and when I didn’t find an easy route from Lime Lake had abandoned the effort in order to continue on with my trip further out Lime Ridge. Well now I was at the same spot as I had been in 2016 and realized that I had been right in 2016, almost the whole side of Lime Lake valley in the direction I needed to go was a wall of cliffs. Saw a little spot where I might be able to get up near the outlet of the lake, which is where I had tried in 2016. Decided to look at it again. Determined that I could get up there safely, might have to skootch down on my behind to get down, but looked safe enough. Got up okay and continued on, making sure to check my back trail so I could find the spot where I got up again, everywhere else was cliffs. Had to navigate several gullies, lots of ups and downs. Saw a potential spot back over to Milk Creek side of ridge that I thought about trying on the way back but I was also getting tired and would have to watch my energy reserves closely. Took about an hour to get to lake. Lake just starting to melt out at edges and only a few patches of open water. I was okay with that. On some maps there was not lake shown here at all, just a snowfield or glacier and it was provisionally mapped on the latest USGS Quad I had. So this was probably close to the condition this lake was in when I started my project. Undoubtedly there were some aquatic organisms in the lake, chironomids (midges), mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies but, more often than not, I don’t see much of these organisms anyway because you quite often have to do some pretty in depth sampling to find them and I don’t have the gear and time to do that. So I didn’t think I was missing much and I needed to get moving if I wanted to get back to camp before dark. Tried on short cut back out of lake on way back and it worked putting me closer to Lime Lake on the Lime Creek side of the ridge but I chickened out on trying the spot to get back over the ridge to the Milk Creek side. My reasoning was that I was getting pretty tired but I figured that I had enough strength energy to retrace my route in and back along the ridge. I didn’t know if I would have enough to do that if I climbed the 500 feet or so to try the other way over the ridge and it turned out that it wouldn’t work. On the flip side, if I did try that route and it worked, it would save me a lot of time and distance. It was a gamble and I decided not to take it. Got back to Lime Lake okay and back to Milk Creek side of ridge. As I started making my way back towards Mica Lake I heard a rumble of thunder. There was a small localized thunder storm on the other side of the Suiattle Valley in the Suiattle Pass area. At first I couldn’t tell which direction it was moving in but I figured that there was no help for it, I would have to try to make my way back and hope the storm didn’t roll over me. At that point, I would have to take some other action. As I made my way back, I could see it was moving off to the northeast, away from me. I was able to take a little better route on the way back that saved a little time. I ended up crossing a steep patch of heather that I had gone several hundred feet above on the way in. I ended up straining a muscle in my right forearm here when my feet slipped out from under me. I was holding on to some heather and blueberries at an odd angle and I felt the strain in my forearm. It didn’t seem serious but I knew it was going to feel strange and maybe a hurt a bit for the rest of the day and maybe the next day or two. Made it to the last little saddles and the steep snowfield that I was worrying about at about 7:00 p.m. After studying it a bit I started through. I had a couple of alternate routes picked out if it turned out I couldn’t get up the steep part where I wanted to go. It turned out that my worries were unfounded. The snow was pretty soft and I was able to go up the slope without much trouble. It was actually easier than getting up the loose rock in the same spot the previous fall. It would have probably been a different story if the snow had been hard. Without an ice axe and crampons, I would have had a hard time making any headway up that slope. As it was, it was actually some of the easiest travel of the whole trip. Made it to top of slope by 7:20 p.m. Within sight of camp now and made my way down hill. One last spot, small knob near Mica Lake outlet, where I had to go back up 40 or 50 feet or so. It was unobstructed so I made challenge with myself to see if I could make it to top in one shot without resting. I managed to do it but it was all I could do. Back to camp by around 8:00. Too late and too tired to break camp and and head out a few miles before camping. Delay that morning and problems and delays getting over ridge and cost too much time and energy. I would try to get early start next morning. Supposed to be really hot so hoped to at least get part of morning walking in shade before sun hit. Wanted to get started by 6:00 a.m. Got started a little after six. Hoped to be out by noon or 1:00. Sun on lake when I started and had to go a few miles down PCT until got into steeper part of Milk Creek valley where there was shade for a few more miles. Hit sun again about quarter mile before crossing of East Fork Milk Creek. Walked in sun all the rest of the way after that. Not too bad until I got to open spirea meadow about a quarter mile downstream of crossing of Milk Creek, really started sweating there. Kind of muggy. Shade in timber provided some relief. Felt really hot in patches where I had to go through open spots in full sun. Still a couple miles from trailhead at a quarter to noon and feeling hungry and a little fatigued. So stopped and had some trail mix and candy bar. Felt better and continued on to trailhead. Took chance and walked small root slab off root wad across river and got away with it. Got to rig a little before 1:00 p.m. Shirt sticking to back by time I got to my rig. Got home about 2:00 p.m. Had greetings all around with family. It was good to see Sacha and the kids again. One of the chores remaining was to take garbage to dump. Got pack in house and opened up to air out. Took care of dirty socks and other little items from trip, loaded garbage cans and headed for dump. At dump got nice big crease in side of pickup when I went to pull out and ran into the open door of the guy next to me. We settled in amiably. I was bummed about the crease but I see pickups as work rigs that should be expected to be a little dirty and beaten up. Next stop was to water cows. Found that the cows, probably the little bulls, got to pushing each other around at the water tank and tipped it over. Had to wrestle tank back into place in order to water cows. Good thing this didn’t happen when Sacha or mom were watering the cows. I don’t know if they could have gotten the tank back into place. It was a challenge for me. Next stop was a kid birthday party down the road a few miles. At this point, I was so tired that I don’t know if I was very good company. Headed home a little before 8:00 p.m. Had to go back up and pick up Skyeball because she needed to go to vet the next day for surgery to have large lump on her back removed.

Soundtrack: Blake Shelton, I’’ll Name the Dogs, Merle Haggard, I’m a Lonesome Fugitive, Camila Cabello, Never Be the Same, The Michigan Rag, Michigan J. Frog or the voice actor who did him in the Looney Tunes cartoon, Zedd, Maren Morris, Grey, Zedd and Hayley Williams, Stay the Night, Paramore, That’s What You Get, Chainsmokers and Coldplay, Something Just Like This, Taylor Swift, Style, Taylor Swift, Delicate only “Decollate”, as my younger daughter Phoebe, age 4, would say it-she was having trouble pronouncing that word but it stuck in my head, Imagine Dragons, Thunder when I heard the thunder in the distance.

Looking up Milk Creek Valley at Glacier Peak from first large opening or meadow at the brewing storm. It was incredibly muggy at this point and it was a bit of a relief when the rain started falling.

Looking up at the east end of Lime Ridge from the Milk Creek trail. This area is between Lime Lake and Mica Lake/Fire Creek Pass and I don't know if it is considered part of Lime Ridge proper. At this point, the soaking thunderstorm was moving on.

Rainbow at Mica Lake from passing thunderstorm. Large snag in foreground had me a bit worried but there was a large gully between it and my camp so I hope I would be safe.

Mica Lake still mostly under snow and ice. I figured it would be mostly open in a few weeks at most.

Looking southeast back at Mica Lake. Glacier Peak is barely visible behind knob above Mica Lake.

Looking northwest at east end of Lime Ridge. My route would take me over the steep ridge in the foreground.

Looking back southeast at Glacier Peak and route from Mica Lake. This is the area visible from the Milk Creek Trail below.

East end of Lime Ridge. The green knob is above Lime Lake and is for sure part of Lime Ridge proper.

My goal. This lake at the head of Lime Creek was only provisionally mapped at the time of this trip but I figured I should go into it anyway. I thought it was going to be much easier than it actually was.

Looking down small valley at head of Lime Creek in direction of two lakes I went into the previous year. One of these lakes sits in the flat at the right center of the frame. It isn't shown on any maps. The other sits below just out of view and is provisionally mapped.

Looking north at goal lake.

Looking north at goal lake from outlet. There wasn't a lot to see here. There are undoubtedly a number of macro invertebrates in this lake but I wasn't able to see much. I doubt if there would be anything like fish or amphibians.

Looking northeast on route back at east end of Lime Ridge and Lime Lake.

Looking northwest down Lime Creek Valley from route back.

Looking northeast at Lime Lake from small chute at outlet where I was able to get through to get to the lake at the head of Lime Creek. There was a probably a better, more direct way over the ridge from the Milk Creek Valley into the Lime Creek Valley but I missed it on the way in and chickened out of attempting it on the way out. I figured that, if I was wrong, I might not have time to make it back to Mica Lake before dark.